Duck and Cover

yes i need wise advise or something like that
i've just finished modding the core campaingn, as i always wanted.
i made it as realistic as i could. so people die quick, as they do.

i even got rid of that "i happen to like the recruits i have now, so i won't change them" cuz i keep losing 2 or 3 per level. i also modified the recruits so all of them can be useful.

one mayor change in the game is that i greatly reduced the number of stimpacks in the game, and this is something i highly recomend. having less stimpacks meant a lot to me. i modified the npc's inv. (i'm talking about raiders and reavers and all of them) and took away their stimpacks. instead i gave them food, very few times stimpacks, and that. the idea was to have them not to look all the same

i also reduced the number of weapons in the game, so u don't get out of a mutant level with 30 miniguns on the backpack. i reduced the cost for ammo, but increased it for weaponry and armor. changed most of the q.m. list, and even energy weapons are available from the first levels, but with little ammo, so u can not have it that easy.

i highly increased the enemie's skills, so they don't miss that often. i changed one by one the tactic they should use in every map and the weapons they have. i increased the number of enemies, so there's some more violence around.

as i increased damage values in all weapons, i also increased ranges for all of them, but not that much. reduced ap cost for pistols and that. and generously increased critical chances for every weapon(so when u get shot u be almost sure to get something crippled or get unconcious)

but what i wanted to say is this thing i changed mainly: the weight thing

i always hated people carrying 5 bottles of nuka cola, two miniguns, a rocket launcher, 2 rifles, a iguana-on-a-stick,

i just ignored the word ponds in that game. i started thinking of it as something like volume or something..
the idea was that a player won't be carrying 3 or 4 looted rifles and think about running.
as i said, there were less guns in the game.
so i changed for example a knife weight like 25-30 pounds, a pistol 25-35 pounds a smg 35-55 pounds a rifle 60-90 pounds (90 should be for that big pulse rifle) and the ammo weight increased also, so u won't carry 500 bullets in your pocket. and to mention miniguns, heavy weapons and the rocket launcher, the weight around 100-140. so if u plan to use a rocket launcher, u have a recruit asigned to use it, and nothing more. maybe a little pistol with a clip or two, but nothing more.

as for the ones with doctor or first aid skill: i changed the weight of them kits to be of 70 or 80 (can't remember right now) cuz it's a kit, and u can't have a doctor's bag in your pocket. so now with less stimpacks, the healing of the party depends mostly on the doctor or the nurse, etc.

with armor, i increased weight also. a leather armor weights like 100 pounds, but when u wear it it gives u and xtra carry w. of 110 ( so u cover the 100 of the armor, and a lil'extra of 10.
the idea of that was not to have a power armor in your pocket. it was to use it or leaving it there.

so if u wanted to get them for selling, u would have to return to the level for them, after selling the things u can carry. then in the desert u get nasty encounters that make it more difficult, but believe me it's a hundred times more enjoyable.

i even changed back the nuka cola color to that sky blue color and it heals u now. i also used the sprite of the nuka cola machine, and used it for a container ent. and put some of them around the bunkers, around the levels, etc. (i just love nuka cola, and always wondered why they changed it.) of course now even nuka cola gives some useful healing points. and for nuka cola weight i made it of 10. this way u won't be carrying more than 2 bottles of that.

having the weights set up like that makes a player having a inventory that seems logical for his size and that.

as for food with actors, i noticed that they did not use it when hurt. i think it was the category it was set (food). i changed it to chemical and i haven't noticed but i hope the use it now. i just finished all that modding thing a few days ago.

what i still do not know
-how to make the laser rifle to cut in half instead of melting people
-why do the q.m. has the double amount of inventory it should have when i finish that mission (3 i think) and have to change bunker for the first time(don't know if it happens just to me)


i can't remember if i forgot to mention something. but any advise or critic or whatever is welcome and requested

Well, that all seems to be a pretty good mod you've got there.

With regards to the wieght changes: 10 POUNDS FOR A COKE? That's not even CLOSE to realistic! How about you manually lower every actor's carry wieght, then change all the item wieghts back to normal, and see what happens.

I totally agree with you when you say a character shouldn't be able to carry 5 miniguns, 3 rifles, 5- grenades, etc., but yer killing the realism by making items weigh waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much.

But other than that, I think your mod is awsome. Do you plan to distribute it? I hope so, 'cause if you do, I'd play it

I've never messed with the items in your "what I still do not know" list, so I can't help you out there.

Wow, I can't way to play this. The armor idea is really interesting. As for the weight thing, it would seem a bit strange. I'm not sure how you could lower the players weight if he makes a custom person, however, so there doesn't seem much choice than what you did for that.
You may want to change the locale file misc, and change the line:
itemWeight = {It weighs <num> pounds.}
to something more to how your weight system works.

As for the laser rifle cutting people in half, I have no idea. I took a look at the ripper entity file, but didn't see anything that could define it as to have that special death animation on NPCs.

IIRC, the type of death an entity goes through depends on the type of weapon. malea weapons are usually what cuts actors in half, and lasers melt - that's just what they do. as unrealistic as that is... it just is.

i'm not really sure if you can change that. i'm pretty sure OTB and the other Map Rats have talked about this already. i can't really remember.

I'd suggest changing all "pound" references in the game to "encumbrance"... This would allow people who can't set their mind into thiking that they aren't pounds...

I like the idea of the armor also. It seems plausible. The weight of normal stuff is way too unrealistic. If you don't want the player to carry two many weapons, make it so these are not lootable and don't have them scatered in other places also. Making Nuka-Cola that heavy is extremely unrealistic. In the worst case it should weigh 3-4 lbs. I don't know if possible but you should change th weight of stimpacks. I can't see a player carrying 50 stimpacks. Keys and such should remain weightless.


There is a (recent) thread we're talking about the death animations, here it is

about lowering carry weights i swear i really thought about doing it. maybe it was the best solution. just can not remember why i did not do it. i think i took the other choice, cuz it was faster to make everything heavier that to resize every ent. carry weight, but i think that's a damn good idea also.

but that idea of changing pounds for "encumberance" or something like that seems like the thing i lacked, and fits better in my mod.
that 10 pound nuka cola thing would be then a 10 "encumberance units" nuka cola (?)

itemWeight = {It weighs pounds.}
itemWeight = {It uses encumberance units.}

looks better that way. thanks a lot.


another thing. i noticed that the pulse rifle was as lethal to robots as plasma rifles are.
so i made a change.

pulse rifle and pistol using small energy cells
laser and plasma using micro fusion cells

small energy cells doing electrical damage,
micro fusion cells doing energy damage
so now robots really get hurt when shot with emp weapons, and people turn to dust when hit also, as in FO/FO2
laser and plasma melt people, but what i can not understand is why this acid sprayer doesn't melt people. the acid canister base damage is set to energy, so they should melt also..? instead they get cutted in half. (???)
this acid thing was mentioned in another post, i remember, also without solution.

and about releasing this mod thing, i would like to but i just don't know how could i do that. as i said before i modified everything: entities, missions, special encounters, added a couple of weapons, fixed bad ammo types, but what bothers everything is the mission file size is quite big i think. not to mention that i have the game installed on another computer, without access to internet, and without a cd writer to upload everything there(so then the big thing could be hosted somewhere for everyone to come get some)

anyway, thanks for the wise advise and such. if any of u have some more(advise, critic, whatever), please be my guest